Miklós Radnóti Poems

Miklós RadnótiMiklós Radnóti, birth name Miklós Glatter (May 5, 1909, Budapest,
Austria-Hungary – November 10, 1944, near Abda, Hungary) was a Hungarian poet
who fell victim to the Holocaust.
Radnóti was born into a bourgeois Jewish family. His life was considerably
shaped by the fact that both his mother and his twin brother died at his birth.
He refers to this trauma is the title of his compilation Ikrek hava ("Month of
Gemini"/"Month of the Twins").
Though in his last years, he was being violently expelled from Hungarian society
(because he was a Jew), he identified himself very strongly as a Hungarian
through his poems. In his poetry, avantgarde and expressionist impressions
mingle with a new classical style, a good example being his eclogues. His
romantic love poetry is notable as well. His 1935 marriage with his wife Fanni
Gyarmati (born 1912) was an exceptionally happy one.
Radnóti converted to Catholicism in 1943. This decision was partly prompted by
the persecution of the Hungarian Jews (from which converts to Christianity were
initially in part exempted), but partly also with his long-standing fascination
with Catholicism.